Bio

I have had the privilege of founding several companies, both for-profit and non-profit, leading more, sharing my insights to tens of thousands of individuals, investing in successful start-ups, traveling the world, preserving and building up a family retreat center in Pennsylvania that I want to share with the world, and doing it all with amazing people. 

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Two generations removed from coal miners, my family instilled the importance of character, respect for others, and integrity from a young age in the Appalachian mountains. In school, Wrestling and cross-country taught me the importance of hard work and perseverance, and debate immersed me to the world of philosophy. 

At one point in life, I was on track to become a philosophy professor. 

I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 with a BA in philosophy and economics and a MA in philosophy. And I began a PhD program in philosophy at Georgetown University, but ended with a second Master’s degree when it became apparent that my principal interests lay outside the Ivory Tower. 

Since I was a teenager, I have helped start, run, and advised many organizations, both for-profit and nonprofit, ranging from a debate camp to a business-oriented travel agency. Two from my past that particularly stand out are Students For Liberty and Conscious Capitalism.

The first is a nonprofit organization I co-founded during my senior year of college to educate, develop, and empower the next generation of leaders of liberty. By the time I stepped down as president, Students For Liberty was a multi-million dollar organization operating in over 100 countries, with nearly 2,000 student groups, organizing 100+ conferences for over 20,000 participants, and training over 1,500 volunteer leaders each year who were starting unicorns in Silicon Valley, leading protests to impeach corrupt public officials, and running for office themselves.

The second is another nonprofit organization started by business leaders like John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, and Kip Tindell, the former CEO of The Container Store. I joined Conscious Capitalism in 2016 to help the organization build a movement of business leaders improving the practice and perception of capitalism to elevate humanity. Since then, the organization has tripled its budget, increased the number of senior business leaders engaged with the organization by six-fold, and spurred on a revolution in the way that people think about business, bringing concepts like Purpose and Stakeholders from the fringes of discussion to the mainstream.

Today, I am supporting companies with great ideas led by great leaders that I believe in, as well as incubating several new organizations, again both for-profit and nonprofit, that will help new and experienced business leaders form the connections they need to bring their ideas to life. These include":

  • Liberty Ventures

  • Leap

  • Principled Business

  • McCobin Mountains Retreat

  • And a wide variety of nonprofits, for-profits, and general initiatives to help others

In my spare time, I like to read, hike, SCUBA dive, travel, run Obstacle Course Races, and spend time at the farm in PA.